I'll Take The Big Box

So, Valentine's Day is usually pretty big around here, since it's my hubby's birthday. We have some kind of dessert he requests, usually I make a cheesecake, but this year, it was an ice cream cake from Coldstone. It's tasty, but little and it has cake layers with the ice cream, instead of just cookie bits like Dairy Queen cakes. But I digress.

He always gets me a little something for Valentine's and it's usually a gift card to a place I like and a box of Russell Stover assorted chocolates. I am obsessed with their chocolate buttercreams. Yum! This year, I must've done something right because I got the huge box. I prefer Russell Stover because they don't put Brazil nuts in their candies ever, and I'm highly allergic, so they have always been my preferred brand :)

Here's a quote I lettered a long time ago, but finally came across again and then colored in recently. It's from the book, The Fault in Our Stars and it's fabulous. "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly and then all at once." It's almost 8.5x11 size, so you know the candy box is big!

Hope you had a fine Valentine's Day and that you get the big box of chocolates once in a while! Keep in mind, the candy goes on sale February 15th...just a little enabling.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Valentinepalooza

Hi, friends, Happy Valentine's Day...or as we call it, Matt's birthday. My hubby was born on Valentine's Day awhile ago (shhh! he's 50 this year!) and his mom used to say he was her favorite Valentine. Now he's my favorite Valentine! It's the only birthday I both give and get gifts. He never forgets to get me my favorite candy (Russell Stover...their chocolate buttercream candies rock!) and a present.

Today I've got a digi stamp Valentine card using the February prize for winning at a2z Scrapbooking's It's a Love Thing challenge. The prize is the Hero Arts Words of Love digis. I printed the word, colored and fussy cut the letters. Then I arranged them like the iconic Love Sculpture by Robert Indiana, but I turned the "o" the opposite way.

I wrote the word "you" with Arteza marker and trimmed it out. The sparkly dots are Your Next Stamp's Gumdrops. I super love them. They come in matte as well, and I love those too.

Here's a close-up of the letters.

Here's a little Valentine link so you can get some freebies today. Nothing says I love you like discounts! Check out the deals at Qdoba and TCBY here.

And here's a link to 15 free heart digis you can download and color, including this one, from Shery K Designs.

And here's a no-bake Valentine treat you can make...I'd substitute Valentine M&Ms though, for the heart candies as they are not my faves.

And if you want to work a little harder, you could make these heart meringues. I love meringue cookies--crisp on the outside and chewy inside. Nothing like pie meringue, which is not my favorite.

And that's all I have for today...hope you have a good Valentine's Day!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

Puppy Love

Now, I've got to admit I loved the song Puppy Love by Donny Osmond back in the day, so I'll post a video of it here for old time's sake, as long as you keep in mind I was only 4 when this song was released...so that makes me so much younger than Donny and Marie. SO much younger. Okay, now that we've established how very young I am, we can continue with the post.  :)

Here is a digi from 2 Cute Ink (again with the 2 Cute stamps!) that I colored in two ways, both with Prismacolor but different colors.

I like the Dalmatian better personally. You'll notice on the first one, though, the candy is for the doggie, I added a tag so you'd know it was puppy-safe chocolate. 

The hello digi is a freebie from Neat & Tangled here.

And I wanted to share this tasty-looking doggie idea with you too. I mean, so cute! How could you eat them?

This valentine is so clever and it's a free printable from here, you just need to buy glow stick bracelets for it, and if my son was young enough to send valentines to school, we'd be making these. Love it! Even though it is in no way dog/puppy related, I felt I'd better share now in case you need a valentine idea before the big day!

Happy Wednesday!
Chark

Let's Have A Monster Hug

This cute little guy is courtesy Heidi Arrowood over at 2 Cute Ink digital stamps. I love his glasses and his Valentine cookie!

This is also a February digi from Heidi. I like them as a couple, because I wouldn't dream of bread without butter, especially crusty, warm French bread. Shhhh! Don't tell my little couple I love to eat bread and butter!

What's your favorite coloring medium? I've been using Prismacolor pencils lately. I like my watercolor pencils too but I haven't found a good paper to feed through the printer that takes watercolor well.

Happy Monday!

Chark

Owl Be Your Valentine

I have some more cards to share with the digi stamps I got from being part of the 2 Cute Ink Stamp Club, this one uses the exclusive club digi for January. Aren't these owls so cute? This is done in colored pencil, as is the next one.

This is just an oval that I created in Corel Draw with a sentiment I like. I need to make them into a card or scrap page, not sure which yet.

And this is a tag I created with a snowflake die from Spellbinders and a scalloped oval. I just threaded the seam binding through the scallops for this look. I used watercolors on this one.

I admit, I'm loving the coloring craze with my digital stamps!

I want to share my creation for both A Blog Named Hero and a2z Scrapbooking this week.
I used a few HA elements and added to the sentiment my favorite glitter of all time—Stickles—for the Bit of Sparkle challenge at A Blog Named Hero. I created the background with Tim Holtz Alcohol inks dripped onto acetate and then backed with white cardstock. Colorful, right?! 

Hope you'll join in!

Happy Wednesday!
Chark

I Heart You

Went to my favorite lss, The Paper Cottage, and their make n take was a Valentine shaker. I'm still really bad at shakers so I went to try again. I did okay, but the sequins get stuck here and there (I didn't have an anti-static wipe) but I'm okay with it, because I like when there are some sequins stuck in there so the window isn't empty when it's standing.

Here's the card one way (I used some of the elements in the kit, and not others).

Then I was rearranging the cupid and bent his neck, which made it look broken (eek!) so I replaced him with some roses and then added lace. Here's the second version of the card. I'm planning to send it to one of the retired nuns who lives at the Mother House and was important to our family...hi, Sister Agnes!

Hope you have some fun plans for Valentines...this one was pretty fun and easy.

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

Friday the 13th!

Eeeekk! It's Friday the 13th, which means bad luck and scary stuff. Except when it doesn't. Today was a fine day (not scary at all)! I got to visit my mom and take my bunch of cards to the nursing home so the residents will have Valentines. 

My mom is at home now, but spent a bunch of weeks in the nursing facility after a fall and it was one of those bummer places. It's good that they exist, just they aren't the most uplifting places. The people there were kinda great, though, since they got my mom back on her feet. So, I took the staff some candy and a thank you card.

 

They said they needed 96 cards when I was expecting them to say 80, so I made 50 cards last night! This is what 96 cards looks like in a box. 

My hubby and son helped me write notes in the cards and it was so helpful! I made a lot of Hello cards, because I wanted to get them all finished for Valentine's Day, but I wasn't sure I'd pull it off. This one uses Doodlebug stickers and papers and I love them!

 

This one uses watercolors and a hello die and a flower sticker by Maggie Holmes. The stamp is Hero Arts and it's my newest stamp...I'm loving it. The lines are so elegant, don't you think? If you want one of your own, you can head over to a2z Scrapbooking Supplies to order Hero Arts/Basic Grey Waves Stamp.   p.s. I have it on good authority that the new Spring Collection from Hero Arts is in at a2z...I'm going to get one of the new Stamp and Cut sets...and some other cool stuff!

Hope your Friday the 13th was good and that Valentine's Day is fantastic!
Chark

Love You Lots

Valentine's Day fast approaches and if you have kids, I'm sure you're already thinking of valentines. Maybe you want to send a valentine yourself. I usually make a card for my husband and kids because, duh, I like making cards! 

We do a Valentine treasure hunt with candy at the end for the kids...and we used to put a little gift with a large Hershey kiss. Seems like the gifts get bigger each year. We graduated from a small stuffed animal to a movie to a Lego set to something video game related for the son. 

Here are some free digis to help you get started on Valentines. I think I'll use some of these for cards or tags, even though you could also use them for scrapbooking. It's from Papercrafts magazine's site and you can download them in jpg or pdf form. I especially like the the alphabet card.

Here's some free cute Valentine art from Sweet Clipart.

And if you're looking for an image to color, check out this cute bee from Paper Smooches and their free art. They also have hearts and other free stamps that would work for Valentine's Day.

 

This free image is from Hannah Lynn Designs. And you could add a different sentiment if you're going for a Valentine card...but I think I might just use her as is on a Smash Book page after I color her a little more. Looovvveee Hannah Lynn drawings and digi stamps. They are perfect if you like Copics, watercolor pencils or colored pencils. Fun to color!

One of my favorite sites for FREE vintage graphics is The Graphics Fairy. This rose is from an 1868 children's magazine. Lovely!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark